Returns of fertility decline in India: a study of health and development contributions by uneducated women using contraception

Perianayagam Arokiasamy, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

India’s fertility transition is apace since early 1990s driven by major fertility declines among uneducated women. Consequently the common emphasis on development indicators as determinants of fertility decline is shifting to the study of reciprocally initiated positive contributions of fertility decline in the improvement of health of women and children. Analysis indicates that uneducated women and their children are the greatest recipients of benefit of health and socioeconomic advancement. The standardized percentages of uneducated women who received full antenatal care, whose children received full immunization are steeply higher for women with two and less than two parities compared to those with more than 2 parities. Child mortality reductions for women of lower parities are also steeply higher for uneducated women compared to educated women. Evidence of higher rates of female work participation and improved nutritional status are also found for women with lower parities